1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for prepayment of telecommunication connections in a telecommunication switching network, and more particularly to such methods and apparatus utilizing stored data representative of prepurchased telecommunication-time.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Prepayment of telephone calls is generally well known in the art. For example, a variety of prepayment telephone systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,706,275 to Kamil; 4,879,744 to Tasaki, et al.; and 4,975,942 to Zebryk.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,275 to Kamil discloses a telephone system which requires a special exchange for storing data representative of a prepurchased monetary value deposited to the credit of the calling party. This special exchange permits access to the central switching station by the calling party transmitting to the special exchange, a special code and the number of the called party. If the special code is valid and the initial prepayment amount is sufficient at the time of calling, then the calling party is connected to the called party. During the connection, the running cost of the call is monitored (i.e. computed). When either party hangs up, or the running cost of the call exceeds the current initial prepayment amount, whichever occurs first, the calling party is disconnected. Thereafter, the computed running cost of the call is deducted from the initial prepayment amount.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,744 to Tasaki, et al. discloses a card-operated telephone system which is adapted for installation in a telecommunication switching network. The card-operated telephone includes a magnetic strip reader/wrier which reads data from a magnetic telephone card, and writes necessary data into the telephone card. This stored data represents the balance of a prepurchased monetary value, and card issue number. Each time the telephone card is used, billing information is computed at the central telephone office, transmitted to the telephone system and used to diminish the balance of the prepurchased monetary value by the computed cost of each call. Also, the first time the card is used, the telephone system records the dialed number of the telephone card and automatically dials the recorded number each time the card is subsequently used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,942 to Zebryk discloses a credit/calling card pay telephone system. The system includes a local telephone unit having a telephone instrument and a self-contained database. The self-contained database is provided for checking the validity of an entered calling card or credit card number. Upon entering the number to be dialed and the calling or credit card number, and after its validity is checked in the database, this information is stored and the call is processed by out-dialing on a standard subscriber telephone line. During the call, the line is monitored until terminated and the transaction record is stored in non-volatile memory. After a programmable number of calls, a period of time or combination thereof, the local unit automatically dials a local host computer with its own internal modem. Upon connection, the local telephone unit transmits its transaction records in batches to the host computer, which subsequently generates billing information with calculated charges.
While such prior art systems facilitate prepayment of phone calls, they nevertheless suffer from significant shortcomings and drawbacks.
In particular, prior art prepayment systems generally require an extensive infrastructure which is both expensive and difficult to implement in practice. Also, the cost of operating such prior art prepayment systems is generally high due to data communication required for call confirmation, charge computations, and billing procedures. In addition, as such prior art prepayment systems require for each placed call, the computation of call cost for each unit of time, this adds to the complexity of such systems, especially when call rates are dependent upon time of calling and place of origination of the call.
Thus, there is a great need in the art for a method and apparatus that permits prepayment of telecommunication connections without the shortcomings and drawbacks of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for prepayment of telecommunication connections, wherein telecommunication-time is treated as a commodity which can be purchased or traded, for example, when market conditions are favorable, and used as desired to procure prepaid telecommunication connections within a telecommunication switching network.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a method and apparatus, in which the prepayment of telecommunication connections with prepurchased telecommunication-time eliminates the need for rate schedules and the computation of call costs and charges.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for prepayment of telecommunication connections, wherein telecommunication-time is prepurchased, stored in the form of telecommunication-time data in a central storage device in communication with a central switching system, and decremented during a procured telecommunication connection, while disabling rate schedules from use in the cost accounting of the procured telecommunication connection.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for prepayment of telecommunication connections, wherein telecommunication-time is prepurchased, stored in the form of telecommunication-time data within a remote telecommunication-time metering device that is insertable along a telecommunication line connecting an associated telecommunication device, such as a telephone set or facsimile machine, and a telecommunication switching station.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for prepayment of telecommunication connections, wherein telecommunication-time is prepurchased, stored in the form of telecommunication-time data within a remote telecommunication device, such as a telephone instrument or a facsimile machine, that is operably associated with a telecommunication line of a telecommunication switching network.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide such apparatus in the form of a telecommunication-time metering device or time-metered telecommunication device which is capable of reading prepurchased telecommunication-time data from a magnetic-strip card, and processing such data to reflect a decrease in telecommunication-time which is essentially equal to the time duration lapsed during each telecommunication connection within the associated telecommunication switching network.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent hereinafter.